Dana White has said he is “extremely confident” that Conor McGregor will return to the UFC this summer, as the former champion targets a long-awaited comeback.
McGregor has not fought since 2021, when he suffered a broken leg in a second straight loss to Dustin Poirier, but The Independent understands he has been in talks over a July return.
That would put the Irishman in line for the main event of UFC 329, which will take place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 11 July. It remains unclear whom McGregor would face, although he is currently expected to face an active opponent with a strong profile.
And UFC president and CEO White has provided a positive update, telling Jim Rome:
“We’re in a great place with Conor. I’m extremely confident that will Conor will fight this year. I’m extremely confident that we’ll get him dialled in and ready to roll.
“He’s training, there’s footage out there of him in training right now. We haven’t announced anything yet.
“He’ll fight this summer. Let me just start there: he’ll fight this summer. I thought it would happen last year; it didn’t, [but] I’m extremely confident it will happen this summer.
“He seems motivated, he’s training. There are a lot of other great things going on behind the scenes that make me very confident he’ll fight this summer.”
McGregor was initially seeking a spot on the UFC’s upcoming White House fight card, an unprecedented event that will take place on 14 June. However, White was always coy on McGregor’s involvement, and the Irishman ultimately missed out.
The next major event will be UFC 329, though, with McGregor the frontrunner to headline – three days before he turns 38.
During his prime, McGregor became the first dual-weight champion in UFC history with captivating knockouts of Jose Aldo (in 13 seconds) and Eddie Alvarez. He also crossed into boxing to fight the legendary Floyd Mayweather, but since losing that match via stoppage in 2017, he has gone 1-3 in the UFC.
In McGregor’s return to the promotion after fighting Mayweather, he was submitted by bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2018; his subsequent bouts were a 40-second stoppage of Donald Cerrone in 2020 and his two losses to Poirier in 2021 – by KO and doctor stoppage.
Outside of the cage, McGregor has faced numerous legal issues throughout his career. In 2024, a civil jury found that he had sexually assaulted a woman in Dublin in 2018, though McGregor has always denied the allegations against him.
